The Chuck ToddCast

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working.
The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year.
Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.

Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck ToddCast
01:15 More comfortable speaking out since not running for office
02:30 Mike’s argument against the death penalty
03:00 It takes 20 years on average from adjudication to execution
03:30 Death penalty process is not able to be sped up
05:00 We need to have legal immigrants admitted to America
06:15 We were educating immigrants, then not having them stay
07:00 Ohio’s economic increases have come from immigrants
07:30 Immigrants are critical to caring for our aging population
08:15 Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty?
10:00 Putting an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners
11:15 It’s in the self-interest of society to educate inmates
12:30 Emotion rather than logic & nuance drives the crime debate
13:30 Truly violent criminals are a very small percentage of the population
14:00 Violent criminals are the ones you have to get out of society
15:15 America goes through pro-immigration and anti-immigration phases
16:00 We need people who want to work
16:30 Haitians in Springfield created challenges, but they work hard
17:30 It’s not in our interest to deport people who are here and working
18:45 Haiti is a major challenge
21:45 Canada trade war is a problem, they’re a major customer for Ohio
23:30 Need a balance between manufacturing here and importing
25:45 Is there a divide in Ohio GOP between the two factions?
28:30 There used to be major distinctions within the parties
29:30 Nationalization of politics has stymied local distinctions within parties
30:30 The nationalization is now in everyone’s face everyday
33:00 Tech companies need to invest in communities where they put data centers
33:45 The data center tech is getting better, don’t have to use as much water
34:45 Need to invest in nuclear power in order to power the data center boom
35:30 Is Ohio in good hands with Ramaswamy or Acton as governor?
37:15 Shutdown decisions during COVID were the governor's choice. Buck stops with him
38:15 Is Ohio back to purple state status?
39:30 The governor and senate races will go down to the wire
40:00 Will this finally be Joe Burrow’s year?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump.
The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength.

Then, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working.
The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year.
Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment.
Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.

Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising
05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters
06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico
07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous
10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it
12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st
14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability
15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues
15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better
16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply
16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply
18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027
18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious
19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest
19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions
20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview
21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial
22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small
23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more
24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply
25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity
25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production
26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term
27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made
27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2
28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s
29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system
29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans
30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters
30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices
32:30 Iran war isn’t just making things expensive, it’s making us more vulnerable
33:00 Defense leaders warning Hegseth the Iran war is unsustainable
33:45 Hegseth has put America in more danger than it’s been in since Cold War
34:15 Barely 1/4th of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy
34:45 We’ve burned through most of our advanced munitions
35:15 We’ve worn out our military equipment and personnel
36:00 Fighting this war has made us less capable of fighting the next war
36:30 China has been the biggest winner of Trump’s second term
37:00 What are we no longer willing to do because of the Iran war?
38:00 We’ve spent all this money on the military… and we’re tapped out?
38:30 We should be incredibly concerned about Putin testing NATO
39:15 Putin sees an American president desperate for a win
40:00 Trump announced that we’ve seized Venezuela’s oil reserves
40:45 This feels like British empire style imperialism
42:00 If Putin had done this to another country… what would we call it?
42:30 The standards shouldn’t be different because WE are doing it
43:30 Who is doing this negotiation and who stands to benefit?
44:30 Shouldn’t the windfall from Venezuelan oil benefit Venezuelans?
45:00 Trump is taking Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, it’s highway robbery
46:00 This is why 2/3rd’s of South America hates the United States
46:30 Trump wants to make America and empire… and the world will hate us
48:00 This compounds America’s credibility problem globally
49:00 The world is only going to hate America & Americans more due to Trump
51:00 Chuck’s high school, Killian is down to 400 students from 3,000
51:45 The kids didn’t disappear, school choice killed ambition to attend there
53:00 Big successful public high schools defined their communities
54:30 Connection between community and schools has broken down
55:00 School choice creates communities not based in their neighborhood
56:00 We haven’t asked “What do we want a public school to do for a community?”
56:45 A public school is central to creating a local community
57:30 We trade choice and specialization, for a community that isn’t forced to interact
59:00 Killian’s community is still a good one, but the character changed
1:00:15 What exactly is public education for? Is it purely for kids' education?
1:01:00 The public school system was a source of our power… and we’ve gutted it
1:01:30 We didn’t try to fix public ed, we tried to empower people to escape it
1:03:45 We created more choices, but did we make education better?
1:05:45 We lost a place where we were forced to get to know each other
1:10:15 Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck ToddCast
1:11:30 More comfortable speaking out since not running for office
1:12:45 Mike’s argument against the death penalty
1:13:15 It takes 20 years on average from adjudication to execution
1:13:45 Death penalty process is not able to be sped up
1:15:15 We need to have legal immigrants admitted to America
1:16:30 We were educating immigrants, then not having them stay
1:17:15 Ohio’s economic increases have come from immigrants
1:17:45 Immigrants are critical to caring for our aging population
1:18:30 Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty?
1:20:15 Putting an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners
1:21:30 It’s in the self-interest of society to educate inmates
1:22:45 Emotion rather than logic & nuance drives the crime debate
1:23:45 Truly violent criminals are a very small percentage of the population
1:24:15 Violent criminals are the ones you have to get out of society
1:25:30 America goes through pro-immigration and anti-immigration phases
1:26:15 We need people who want to work
1:26:45 Haitians in Springfield created challenges, but they work hard
1:27:45 It’s not in our interest to deport people who are here and working
1:29:00 Haiti is a major challenge
1:32:00 Canada trade war is a problem, they’re a major customer for Ohio
1:33:45 Need a balance between manufacturing here and importing
1:36:00 Is there a divide in Ohio GOP between the two factions?
1:38:45 There used to be major distinctions within the parties
1:39:45 Nationalization of politics has stymied local distinctions within parties
1:40:45 The nationalization is now in everyone’s face everyday
1:43:15 Tech companies need to invest in communities where they put data centers
1:44:00 The data center tech is getting better, don’t have to use as much water
1:45:00 Need to invest in nuclear power in order to power the data center boom
1:45:45 Is Ohio in good hands with Ramaswamy or Acton as governor?
1:47:30 Shutdown decisions during COVID were the governor's choice. Buck stops with him
1:48:30 Is Ohio back to purple state status?
1:49:45 The governor and senate races will go down to the wire
1:50:15 Will this finally be Joe Burrow’s year?
1:52:00 ToddCast Time Machine - The Assassination of William McKinley
1:52:30 Of all presidential assassinations, Americans know the least about this one
1:53:00 The assassin was Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who felt system was unjust
1:53:45 After McKinley died, Teddy Roosevelt became president
1:54:15 Czolgosz actually produced some of the political change he wanted
1:55:00 Modern America echoes America in 1901
1:56:00 Czolgosz saw political assassinations create change in Europe
1:57:45 Other anarchists thought Czolgosz was too committed, maybe a plant
1:58:15 Emma Goldman argues that societal conditions explain the assassination
1:59:00 When people conclude politics won’t solve problems, they look to alternatives
1:59:45 The assassination happened at a fair showing celebrating technological advances
2:00:30 The United States was emerging as a world power, but there were two Americas
2:01:00 One America saw dynamism, the other saw exploitation
2:01:30 The setting of the assassination was almost poetic
2:02:15 Doctors treating McKinley were too afraid to use new X-ray technology
2:03:15 Lincoln’s son was actually nearby during the assassination
2:03:45 Roosevelt was installed as VP by party bosses to get rid of him
2:04:30 Roosevelt sworn in at age 42, and understood the conditions for political radicalism
2:05:00 Roosevelt argues for the “Square Deal” and goes after concentrated corporate power
2:06:00 The uncomfortable truth: Does assassination provide the sought political change?
2:06:45 Lincoln and JFK’s assassination both changed the political timeline
2:08:00 Czolgosz was convicted and executed weeks after McKinley’s death
2:08:30 Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion Act, Goldman is deported
2:10:00 The forces that produced Czolgosz weren’t confined to America
2:10:30 Roosevelt’s policies helped prevent a Russian-style revolution
2:11:00 Roosevelt argues capitalism has to be regulated and restrained
2:12:15 America in 2026 isn’t America 1901, but it does rhyme
2:13:15 Ask Chuck
2:13:30 What do you make of James Talarico’s status in Texas?
2:19:30 Thoughts on Project 2025, is it a threat and is Trump following it?
2:21:45 Do you think the Trump administration will still act on Cuba?
2:24:00 Why not make the Attorney General an elected position?
2:27:45 Do you see your political independence as a protest against duopoly?
2:32:00 Takeaways from first week of college football
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump.
The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength.
Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment.
Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising
05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters
06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico
07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous
10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it
12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st
14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability
15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues
15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better
16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply
16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply
18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027
18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious
19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest
19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions
20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview
21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial
22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small
23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more
24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply
25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity
25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production
26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term
27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made
27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2
28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s
29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system
29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans
30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters
30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices
32:30 Iran war isn’t just making things expensive, it’s making us more vulnerable
33:00 Defense leaders warning Hegseth the Iran war is unsustainable
33:45 Hegseth has put America in more danger than it’s been in since Cold War
34:15 Barely 1/4th of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy
34:45 We’ve burned through most of our advanced munitions
35:15 We’ve worn out our military equipment and personnel
36:00 Fighting this war has made us less capable of fighting the next war
36:30 China has been the biggest winner of Trump’s second term
37:00 What are we no longer willing to do because of the Iran war?
38:00 We’ve spent all this money on the military… and we’re tapped out?
38:30 We should be incredibly concerned about Putin testing NATO
39:15 Putin sees an American president desperate for a win
40:00 Trump announced that we’ve seized Venezuela’s oil reserves
40:45 This feels like British empire style imperialism
42:00 If Putin had done this to another country… what would we call it?
42:30 The standards shouldn’t be different because WE are doing it
43:30 Who is doing this negotiation and who stands to benefit?
44:30 Shouldn’t the windfall from Venezuelan oil benefit Venezuelans?
45:00 Trump is taking Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, it’s highway robbery
46:00 This is why 2/3rd’s of South America hates the United States
46:30 Trump wants to make America and empire… and the world will hate us
48:00 This compounds America’s credibility problem globally
49:00 The world is only going to hate America & Americans more due to Trump
51:00 Chuck’s high school, Killian is down to 400 students from 3,000
51:45 The kids didn’t disappear, school choice killed ambition to attend there
53:00 Big successful public high schools defined their communities
54:30 Connection between community and schools has broken down
55:00 School choice creates communities not based in their neighborhood
56:00 We haven’t asked “What do we want a public school to do for a community?”
56:45 A public school is central to creating a local community
57:30 We trade choice and specialization, for a community that isn’t forced to interact
59:00 Killian’s community is still a good one, but the character changed
1:00:15 What exactly is public education for? Is it purely for kids' education?
1:01:00 The public school system was a source of our power… and we’ve gutted it
1:01:30 We didn’t try to fix public ed, we tried to empower people to escape it
1:03:45 We created more choices, but did we make education better?
1:05:45 We lost a place where we were forced to get to know each other
1:09:00 ToddCast Time Machine - The Assassination of William McKinley
1:09:30 Of all presidential assassinations, Americans know the least about this one
1:10:00 The assassin was Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who felt system was unjust
1:10:45 After McKinley died, Teddy Roosevelt became president
1:11:15 Czolgosz actually produced some of the political change he wanted
1:12:00 Modern America echoes America in 1901
1:13:00 Czolgosz saw political assassinations create change in Europe
1:14:45 Other anarchists thought Czolgosz was too committed, maybe a plant
1:15:15 Emma Goldman argues that societal conditions explain the assassination
1:16:00 When people conclude politics won’t solve problems, they look to alternatives
1:16:45 The assassination happened at a fair showing celebrating technological advances
1:17:30 The United States was emerging as a world power, but there were two Americas
1:18:00 One America saw dynamism, the other saw exploitation
1:18:30 The setting of the assassination was almost poetic
1:19:15 Doctors treating McKinley were too afraid to use new X-ray technology
1:20:15 Lincoln’s son was actually nearby during the assassination
1:20:45 Roosevelt was installed as VP by party bosses to get rid of him
1:21:30 Roosevelt sworn in at age 42, and understood the conditions for political radicalism
1:22:00 Roosevelt argues for the “Square Deal” and goes after concentrated corporate power
1:23:00 The uncomfortable truth: Does assassination provide the sought political change?
1:23:45 Lincoln and JFK’s assassination both changed the political timeline
1:25:00 Czolgosz was convicted and executed weeks after McKinley’s death
1:25:30 Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion Act, Goldman is deported
1:27:00 The forces that produced Czolgosz weren’t confined to America
1:27:30 Roosevelt’s policies helped prevent a Russian-style revolution
1:28:00 Roosevelt argues capitalism has to be regulated and restrained
1:29:15 America in 2026 isn’t America 1901, but it does rhyme
1:30:15 Ask Chuck
1:30:30 What do you make of James Talarico’s status in Texas?
1:36:30 Thoughts on Project 2025, is it a threat and is Trump following it?
1:38:45 Do you think the Trump administration will still act on Cuba?
1:41:00 Why not make the Attorney General an elected position?
1:44:45 Do you see your political independence as a protest against duopoly?
1:49:00 Takeaways from first week of college football
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd digs into Darline Graham's 52-48 runoff win over Ralph Norman in South Carolina — a result that snapped Trump's ugly endorsement streak but only barely, and only because Trump personally recruited her, endorsed her, flew to Myrtle Beach for a rally, and dropped more than $800,000 in MAGA Inc. money on a race his PAC had sat out all cycle elsewhere. Chuck's read is that Trump clearly still moves Republican primary voters, but that a four-point squeaker for an appointed newcomer carrying one of the most recognizable names in state politics is not the show of strength the White House wanted. Graham inherited Lindsey's negatives with voters without inheriting his positives, remains an amateur candidate prone to gaffes, and may be dragged down further by resentment over how she got the seat in the first place. Against her is Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician with a real organization raising real money — and while no Democrat has won a Senate race in South Carolina since 1998, Chuck asks the honest question about a favorable environment: what's Andrews' actual ceiling, and can 48% be a winning number in a state where the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act has produced a surge in Black turnout? If the blue wave turns into a tsunami, South Carolina lands on the map. A Graham loss in this environment would be a genuine disaster for Trump.
That leads into the broader strategic picture, where Chuck reports Trump met with advisors about how to deploy his enormous war chest — with the advisors trying to keep the midterms from becoming a referendum on him, and Trump insisting MAGA Inc. spend on ads touting his record. It's a plan built on turning out voters who show up only for Trump, which could either backfire badly or, Chuck concedes, prevent a tsunami. The deeper problem is that Trump is being told what he wants to hear: he thinks the economy is great, voters emphatically don't, and charts are meaningless to people staring at their grocery bills. Unlike Obama, who inherited a mess, Trump's central problems — the tariffs and the Iran war — were his own choices, which is why blaming Joe Biden won't land with any credibility. Chuck also notes that conservative media has spent the week obsessing over the WNBA, a classic look-over-here tactic from outlets that can't discuss the cost of living, and observes something genuinely changed about Trump's second-term psychology: more countries and institutions are willing to push back, and people simply aren't as afraid of him anymore. He is appalled by the reported plan to tear down the Kennedy Center — calling it disgusting to want your name on someone else's tombstone, noting the Kennedy Center was doing fine, and marveling that the Justice Department put any of this in writing. He closes with his argument that America no longer has two functional parties: Democrats are paralyzed, the GOP is owned by Trump, both are held together only by fear of the other side's extremes, nearly half the public identifies with neither, and state law now protects the duopoly from competition. We demand more choice everywhere else in life. His pitch: stop protecting the two parties, let them divorce, and let voters build something that actually looks like the country.


Then, former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them.
From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether.
Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of 2028 GOP presidential candidates and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
“Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now
https://www.scaramucci.net/books

Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
05:30 Darline Graham wins South Carolina runoff w/Trump’s endorsement
06:00 Trump clearly has influence over GOP primary voters
06:45 The race was a test of Trump’s political strength & she barely won
08:15 Darline inherited Lindsey’s negatives with voters, but not the positives
09:15 It took Trump & his operation to get Graham over the finish line
09:45 May not be a path for Annie Andrews to win, but can make it close
10:30 In favorable environment for Dems, what is the ceiling for Andrews?
11:30 Can 48% be a winning number for Annie Andrews?
12:00 Graham is still an amateur candidate, prone to gaffes
13:15 SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act has led to surge in black vote
14:30 Some voters may be turned off by Graham being appointed
15:30 Andrews has a strong organization & is raising real money
16:15 If the blue wave is a tsunami… South Carolina may be on the map
17:15 Trump desperately needed a Darline Graham
19:15 Candidates who ran as Trump candidates are pivoting for the general
21:00 A Graham loss in this environment would be a disaster for Trump
22:00 Trump met with advisors to discuss how to use his giant war chest
22:30 Advisors don’t want the midterms to be a referendum on Trump
23:15 Trump wants MAGA Inc to spend on ads touting his record
24:15 Trump is out of touch, told what he wants to hear
25:45 Trump thinks the economy is great, the voters certainly don’t
27:00 Economic charts are meaningless when costs are so high
27:45 Trump is not meeting voters where they are
28:15 While Obama inherited a mess, the problems now are caused by Trump
29:00 The tariffs and Iran war were Trump’s choices
30:00 Playing the “blame Joe Biden” card won’t land with credibility
31:00 The senate map is still pretty friendly territory for Republicans
31:30 Trump’s strategy is to turn out voters that show up for only for him
32:30 This plan could also backfire on Republicans
33:45 The plan could also possibly prevent a potential blue tsunami
34:15 Conservative media has been obsessing over the WNBA
35:00 They can’t talk about the serious issues, focused on culture wars
35:45 It’s an old political “look over here” tactic
36:45 Conservatives want voters focused on WNBA, not cost of living
37:30 Conservative media tries to change the subject, Trump doesn’t
38:00 Trump’s psychology has clearly changed in term two
38:45 More countries and institutions are willing to push back on Trump
39:30 People aren’t as afraid to stand up to Trump now
40:15 If Trump tears down the Kennedy Center, the symbolism would be powerful
40:45 It’s disgusting to want to put your name on someone else’s tombstone
41:30 The Kennedy Center was doing FINE before Trump
42:15 Trump isn’t nearly as much of a “builder” as he claims to be
43:15 Threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center is just appalling
44:30 It’s crazy that the Department of Justice put this in writing
45:00 Don’t have two functional parties, Dems are paralyzed, GOP owned by Trump
46:30 Both parties contain wings with diverging philosophies
47:45 Both parties stay together because they’re afraid of the other sides extremes
48:45 Nearly half the public doesn’t identify with either major party
49:30 Voters identify as independents to register protest with both parties
51:30 The “left” and “right” labels end up doing the thinking for us
52:15 Parties lost regional identities as politics became nationalized
53:45 State law now protects the two political parties from competition
54:30 We should stop protecting the duopoly
56:30 Every race shouldn’t have to collapse into the same two parties
57:00 There is a constituency for a multiparty democracy
58:30 We keep defending a political system that most agree isn’t working
59:45 Everywhere else in life we demand more choice. Just not in politics
1:00:45 Let the parties divorce and then let the voters decide
1:02:30 Politics should be more representative of what we are
1:07:00 Anthony Scaramucci joins The Chuck ToddCast
1:07:45 Last time seeing each other was in Abu Dhabi right before Iran war
1:09:15 Abu Dhabi was one of the safest places in the world pre-war
1:10:45 How much damage has been done to U.S. & gulf state alliance?
1:11:15 Our military industrial complex is out of step with modern warfare
1:12:00 There’s a circuit between defense contractors and D.C.
1:12:30 Iran will end up closer to their Sunni neighbors after the war
1:13:15 Iran’s mosaic defense doctrine created decentralized leadership
1:14:00 Our naval supply depots have been decimated by Iran
1:15:00 Hegseth’s response was to fire reporters who reported the story
1:17:30 Defense industry has been consolidated down to 5 big companies
1:18:30 Those 5 companies act like a monopoly cartel
1:19:15 Since Citizen’s United, corporations get what they want from D.C.
1:20:45 We’ve spent huge sums of money to get embarrassed by Iran
1:22:15 Countries that hosted U.S. bases finding out it’s not worth it
1:23:00 New defense pacts will be formed without the U.S. involved
1:24:00 The lobbyists will get in the way of any attempts at reform
1:26:15 China is able to plan for the long term in a way the U.S. doesn’t
1:27:15 Anthony’s rift with Trump began was op-ed about importance of free press
1:27:45 Our freedoms are advantage over China if we get our act together
1:29:15 China has some advantages over us, but we also have our advantages
1:30:00 Pentagon can’t pass an audit, but nobody holds them accountable
1:30:30 Mark Carney is now the leader of the western world now
1:31:00 Carney understands Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west
1:31:30 If Trump was a Putin agent… he would get an A+
1:33:15 The Canada trade deal stalled over dual language packaging
1:35:00 Trade dispute will likely get resolved in the next couple weeks
1:36:15 The Carney path is not a path for the Democrats
1:37:30 New coalitions have been formed since the 2016 election
1:38:15 Don’t see a coalition builder in the current Democratic party
1:39:00 Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade
1:40:00 Someone from outside of politics could potentially build a coalition
1:41:00 ToddCast Top 5 2028 GOP Presidential candidates
1:41:45 #1 JD Vance
1:43:15 #2 Marco Rubio
1:46:00 #3 Someone named Trump
1:47:00 #4 Nikki Haley
1:47:30 #5 Rand Paul
1:51:00 Ask Chuck
1:51:30 Thoughts on the long-shot Democratic 2028 candidates?
1:57:00 What would your dream bipartisan ticket look like?
2:00:30 What happened to the ideological principles of both parties?
2:04:15 Could Roger Marshall leave and then just be reappointed?
2:07:00 Are we missing shifts in areas we assume are safely red?
2:11:00 College football preview
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them.
From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether.
“Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now
https://www.scaramucci.net/books
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Anthony Scaramucci joins The Chuck ToddCast
00:45 Last time seeing each other was in Abu Dhabi right before Iran war
02:15 Abu Dhabi was one of the safest places in the world pre-war
03:45 How much damage has been done to U.S. & gulf state alliance?
04:15 Our military industrial complex is out of step with modern warfare
05:00 There’s a circuit between defense contractors and D.C.
05:30 Iran will end up closer to their Sunni neighbors after the war
06:15 Iran’s mosaic defense doctrine created decentralized leadership
07:00 Our naval supply depots have been decimated by Iran
08:00 Hegseth’s response was to fire reporters who reported the story
10:30 Defense industry has been consolidated down to 5 big companies
11:30 Those 5 companies act like a monopoly cartel
12:15 Since Citizen’s United, corporations get what they want from D.C.
13:45 We’ve spent huge sums of money to get embarrassed by Iran
15:15 Countries that hosted U.S. bases finding out it’s not worth it
16:00 New defense pacts will be formed without the U.S. involved
17:00 The lobbyists will get in the way of any attempts at reform
19:15 China is able to plan for the long term in a way the U.S. doesn’t
20:15 Anthony’s rift with Trump began was op-ed about importance of free press
20:45 Our freedoms are advantage over China if we get our act together
22:15 China has some advantages over us, but we also have our advantages
23:00 Pentagon can’t pass an audit, but nobody holds them accountable
23:30 Mark Carney is now the leader of the western world now
24:00 Carney understands Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west
24:30 If Trump was a Putin agent… he would get an A+
26:15 The Canada trade deal stalled over dual language packaging
28:00 Trade dispute will likely get resolved in the next couple weeks
29:15 The Carney path is not a path for the Democrats
30:30 New coalitions have been formed since the 2016 election
31:15 Don’t see a coalition builder in the current Democratic party
32:00 Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade
33:00 Someone from outside of politics could potentially build a coalition
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.